Help Kate Achieve Her Interior Design Dreams

Hi, I'm Kate Ridley! I am so excited to say that I have been accepted to be on track for one of the top, nationally-ranked interior design programs in the country!! Although I am excited to have this opportunity, Auburn University has a lofty tuition cost. With my independent personality along with my business mind, I know that student loans with 10% interest rate and a 5% origination fee are not a great option! Out-of-state tuition could reach $220,000, and I would love to help my parents with the cost for me to attend this college. I’m working hard this summer and plan to balance jobs while studying when I begin classes in August. I've set up this GoFundMe to help cover my tuition and living expenses. I am working to gain scholarships and sponsorships from various businesses and would love to also have your support. Every contribution makes a difference and helps me chase my dream without drowning in debt!

Funds that are raised through this Education GoFundMe will ONLY be used for my tuition and room/board costs.

Below is my four-year plan if you would like to have more information about my goals throughout these next few years...

Four-Year Plan

First Year: I chose Auburn University based on the integrity and scholastic reputation of the interior design program. The cost of attendance for out-of-state is a lot more than was expected. As I looked for the best schools for my major of choice, the colleges in my state did not compare to those in Alabama in the interior design profession. I want to make sure that I attend a college that gives me the best opportunities for my future in this career, and I do not want the cost of attendance in my situation to prevent that. My first-year plan is to attend Auburn University and major in Interior Design with a minor concentration in Hospitality. In addition to being a student at Auburn University, I will be getting a full-time job to be able to pay for the tuition and extra costs of attending Auburn. With this in mind, I have decided to try and get residency in Alabama to receive in-state tuition from the college to help with the expenses after my first year. My goal is to work at either a coffee shop in Auburn, Auburn Nutrition, or a local retail store along with working with the work-study program on campus. Fall of freshman year, I will begin studio classes solely surrounding my major of Interior Design. During my first year at Auburn, I not only want to be concentrating on my classes, but I want to make sure that I plug myself into the college and surrounding community. I would like to get involved in Greek Life and many other clubs such as club soccer or basketball. I also want to get involved with clubs that involve any type of community work so that I can be able to connect with my college town even more than just being on campus. I want to connect Auburn Community Church to get acquainted with more students that have the same beliefs as me building a strong Christian friend group.

Second Year: In my second year of college, I plan to continue my education at Auburn University. I want to continue my on and off-campus jobs that I started freshman year but now have an even larger role in terms of responsibility or rise to a higher leadership position. I know with this increase in pay there will be more responsibility on me for the job, but this will assist in adding to my resume for the Interior Design program. During this year will be when I must apply to the actual design program within the Human Sciences Department. Two of the professors within this department have already prepared me to know that the program is limited in number for each cohort. This has given me the drive to begin developing ideas of increasing my chances. Adding to my resume is just one piece of this in addition to keeping my grades up to a 4.0. As my education in Interior Design continues, I want to add hospitality courses to my course load to begin learning how to intertwine interior design and event planning. I want to begin looking for residential internships that will fit my career goals to get real world experience for what I will be doing after graduation. Including characteristics within the internship where I can get a better understanding of each part of the job from top to bottom. I want to learn every piece of the business so that I will understand the complexities of each position. With this in mind, I want to also find and sign up for a summer study abroad program to be able to see other features of the world and their sense of Interior Design and Architecture. This year I want to also continue my sorority and clubs that I had started my freshman year. I would love to be in charge of banners for events for these organizations where I can add my talent of design and art into the position. The classes that I will be taking within the hospitality program will assist in some of the event planning for these clubs allowing me to get more experience to add to my resume. I should be able to apply for positions such as Student Ambassador within the university during this year. I would love to be one of the faces of the college introducing its spectacular qualities to prospective students.

Third Year: As a continuation of my second year of college, in my third year I want to be in any sort of leadership position, if not already, in my clubs, sorority, classes, job, etc. to train me for being able to own my own business after college. By this time, I should be in positions of leadership within these including such positions as community chair or event chair. I want to learn how to be a servant leader where, although my Type A personality allows me to get things done myself, I can also learn to delegate tasks to others with a teaching mentality. I know that I cannot do each part of the business myself so I must learn how to lead others in a way that motivates them to stay with me. I want to, now, be set on an internship and getting the experience through this internship to better understand and know what to do in any situation into which I may be thrown. In this year, I want to be looking at different opportunities to talk to business owners to discuss how to truly start up my own business from the ground up. Although the Interior Design program will be assisting me in the design piece of the business, I would like to take a couple of introductions to business classes to gain an understanding of each part of having my own business. Even if I am not able to fit these into my class schedule, I can find some of these online as free courses as I did to begin learning about the basics of Interior Design in high school. I want to begin thinking about how to take action in this advice or guidance that anyone might have to better prepare me with what I may be tasked with as I begin the business journey. I would like to have an opportunity to intern in a different area this year that is more specific to my concentration within Interior Design where event planning could be included. I plan to do another study abroad course the summer of my third year.

Fourth Year: In my final year of attending Auburn University, I want to have already studied abroad twice. I would like to be to the point of only working for the company that I have chosen as my final internship so that I am ready to be in the business I interned for right out of college. I want to continue my research on how to start my own business while still getting experience through work and event planning. This year I want to be President for my sorority and have this leadership position to train me for how to be a truly successful leader in any environment. I want to take advantage of everything the school has to offer that I may not have experienced until this year just to be able to live in the moment and not look back with any regrets of what I could have or should have done.